Seattle stymied in efforts to raise minimum wage

SEATTLE — Highlighting the contentious debate around raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour in a supportive city, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said Thursday that no
agreement has been reached among business and labor representatives trying to
create a plan for city leaders.

With the advisory group seemingly failing to come up with
a plan, the mayor's office had scheduled a news conference Thursday to announce
his own proposal for raising the minimum wage,
but Murray instead gave the committee more time. The advisory group of
business, labor, nonprofit and other representatives has had four months to
reach a consensus.

"We're stuck at the moment,"
Murray told reporters. "I'd rather be late and get it right than rush it
and get it wrong."

Except for saying that some sort of
phase-in has been agreed upon, Murray did not provide many details of the plan
being hashed out. The mayor said he wants to get a "super majority"
of the 24-person advisory group to agree to a proposal, and added that if the
group fails, he'll present his own proposal to the City Council. But he did not
present a clear timeline.

Washington state already has the
nation's high minimum wage at $9.32 an hour. Murray, who made a
campaign promise in last year's election to raise the minimum hourly wage in
the Northwest's largest city to $15, faces a slew of options.

Businesses are pushing for a
phase-in, with wage credits for tips and health care
benefits, while other groups are pushing for an immediate wage hike
on big employers and a limited phase-in for small and midsize businesses.

A group called 15 Now, which is led
by socialist City Council member Kshama Sawant, has filed a city charter
amendment measure that it plans to run if Murray and the City Council's
proposal has too many exemptions. The group's measure would hike the minimum wage immediately for large businesses and
have a three-year phase-in for employers with fewer than 250 full-time
employees.

Sawant, who was also part of
Murray's advisory group, is urging her supporters to move beyond the mayor's
committee and focus on lobbying the City Council, or if needed, prepare for a
ballot fight.

"Right now, I think it's
absolutely critical for workers everywhere in Seattle to be listening, to be alert and make
sure the City Council knows that they're watching, that the City Council is
accountable to them," Sawant told reporters after the mayor's news
conference.

Business groups have said they are
considering sponsoring their own ballot measure if 15 Now moves forward with
its ballot proposal.

Murray said an initiative fight in
November would be create a "mini version of class warfare."

Attending the news conference were
representatives of minority-owned chambers of commerce, who argued for a
10-year phase-in because any immediate wage hike would be too drastic for their
businesses.